Parse tab separated text file in Google Sheets

Question

I have a txt file available on the web which contains tab separated values (TSV/CSV) like this:

Product_IdtabColortabPricetabQuantity
Item1        tabRed  tab$5.2 tab5
Item2        tabBlue tab$7.5 tab10

I imported the txt file into a Google Spreadsheet using the IMPORTDATA(url) formula. The problem is that now I need to split the text to columns. I tried the following formulas without success:

Split(A1,"\t")
Split(A1,"    ")
Split(A1,"<tab>")

another thing I tried is to to use the Substitute function, but I just can't figure out how to match the Tab character in Google Spreadsheets?

Answer 1

Pages strips tabs by default when you paste text using a standard paste. Tab delimited data can be pasted and automatically parsed using:

Right Click -> Paste special -> Paste values only